Photos: Speak Up! Benefit Concert [Brooklyn, NY; 03/18/08]

Photos by Kathryn Yu; Above: Lou Reed with Moby and Laurie Anderson

The stars turned out in spades for Speak Up!: A Benefit Concert for Peace in Iraq & Justice at Home, held last night at St. Ann's Warehouse in Brooklyn, as previously reported.

An opening number that brought together Lou Reed, Antony, Moby, and Laurie Anderson set the collaborative tone for the evening, which would also feature David Byrne rocking with Norah Jones, Damien Rice, and members of Scissor Sisters, plus a culminating, bill-spanning jam on Reed's "Voices of Freedom".

Blonde Redhead, Antony, Jones, Anderson, Rice (completely unplugged), and Scissor Sisters all performed individually as well, and quite a few non-musicians put in appearances too. Among them: American Civil Liberties Union executive director Anthony Romero and New York Civil Liberties Union rep Donna Lieberman, journalists Naomi Klein and Laura Flanders, Iraq Veterans Against the War spokesperson Jose Vasquez, dancer/choreographer Bill T. Jones, and Richard Belzer of "Homicide" and "Law & Order" fame, who threatened to kill a dog if the audience didn't take political action. He was joking, of course, and probably just looking for an excuse to carry a ridiculously cute little dog around with him. Aren't we all?

DAVID BYRNE with SCISSOR SISTERS members, NORAH JONES, and DAMIEN RICE